Channel 4 stands up for what it believes in a new campaign designed to remind viewers of its remit and purpose.

We were set up to experiment, provoke and entertain, and to put our profits into our programmes. You may love us, you may want to punch our lights out, but we make programmes we believe in. We can do this because we were Born Risky.

Australian comedian Adam Hills delivered the latest Channel 4 “Alternative Christmas message” this year focusing on the Paralympics, with reference to the hugely successful Meet The Superhumans campaign. Shot in a single long take it’s a particularly sincere and poetic spin on the annual tradition.

British music and entertainment channel 4Music refreshed its on-air branding this month and introduced four new idents based around dance.

I’m reminded of the old BBC One ‘Rhythm and Movement’ idents that still remain a gold standard for television branding. And having recently seen Pina I still think there is plenty of room to further explore dance in idents.

The wit of David Mitchell and the profundity of Charlie Brooker have joined forces along with Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne for a new topical comedy programme on Channel 4 called 10 O’Clock Live.

In a similar vein to local productions Hungry Beast or the 7pm Project the show is a tight hour or news, chat and comedy. Visually the programmes colour palette and set design are decidedly un-newsy, and the use of Steadicam makes for a (quite literally) smooth viewing experience.

Something that’s meant to make us laugh, is somehow also making us smarter. The rise of comedy in the delivery of news is challenging new audiences to have a greater understanding of the world around them, and hopefully that’s a good thing.

Over the past decade the Big Brother format has swept the world, and along with it broadcast thousands of hours of people sleeping. It’s had an enormous cultural impact, made this guy incredibly wealthy and at least a couple people mildly famous.

But the format has been losing steam for a while now, the Australian version wrapped up in 2008, and now in 2010 the British version is also saying goodbye.

The final season is embracing its impending death, with a strange circus themed title sequence, and a rather witty promo featuring former housemates attending the shows funeral. It’s nice that the show is acknowledging its departure from British television screens with as much dignity a show like this can muster.

Since 1993 Channel 4 has been offering viewers an alternative to the Queen’s Christmas message. With the likes of Ali G, Jamie Oliver and even Marge Simpson delivering a speech it’s generally been a rather tongue-in-cheek event.

This year however Channel 4 decided to court controversy with their decision to approach Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who was so beautifully satirised by SNL here) to deliver the address.